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It is located at Braban Village, Kediri
District, Tabanan Regency. It is about 13
km from the closest city of Tabanan, about
30 km from the main city of Denpasar. It
can be reached by motorcycle and road fairly
good.
 The
spectacular Tanah Lot is possibly the best
known and most photographed temple on Bali.
The tourist crowed here are phenomenal,
especially at sunset, and the commercial
hype is terrible. Tanah Lot sunset tours
are heavily promoted in all tourist areas.
The temple perched on a little rocky islet,
look superb whether delicately lit by the
dawn light or starkly outlined at sunset.
But can it ever live up to the hype!
For the Balinese, Tanah Lot is one of the
important and venerated sea temples. Like
Pura Uluwatu, at the southern end of the
island.
The name of Tanah Lot Temple in tourism
bibliography about Bali almost never absent.
The name Tanah Lot is probably from “Tanah
laut “ means land in the sea. It is the
fact that the strong sea abrasion has separated
the temple area with Bali mainland, so it
looks that the temple nests on a small speck
of rock building up on the ocean. Despite
the fact that strong hit of sea wave but
the site is still standing while the whole
sides have disappeared by the raged waves
of hundreds of years.
No historical record is found so far to
construct the history of the temple. Scripture
of Dang Hyang Nirarta mentions that the
priest Dang Hyang Nirarta had visited the
temple and asked the people around the area
to build shrine. While the priest also educates
the fishermen there in making fish trap.
 The
temple as a whole is dedicated to the god
of the sea. Fishermen pray to get fish and
prosperity. A story mentions that one of
the shrine at Batukaru temple was lost,
and was found here standing at Tanah Lot
temple complex. It was very probable that
the temple was built by Mengwi kingdom as
the sea temple. A kingdom in Bali normally
had 3 main temples, one located near the
sea, one in the city or near the palace,
and one on the mountain or near the mountain.
This concept of 3 temples has also influenced
the smaller unit of Balinese settlement
called “Banjar “. Every Banjar in Bali has
also 3 main temples dedicated to the trinity
and ancestor’s spirits.
Now only 3 villages that responsible for
the temple those are all nearby villages
of Braban, Kelating, and Tibu Biyu, and
still as the temple for Mengwi palace. The
ceremony is performed every 6 month, based
on Hindu-Java calendar
For tourists, it is not only the traditional
magic of the temple is interesting, but
the location in the natural setting, especially
during the sunset, the temple changes into
silhouette against the sunsets above Indonesian
ocean
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